Rifles - Forgotten Weapons

Yugoslav M70A: The AK With a Real Magazine Holdopen

September 26, 2022 Ian McCollum 15

Yugoslavia began development of a Kalashnikov pattern rifle in 1959. The Yugoslav rifle would be distinct from the standard Soviet model, as evidenced by features like the gas cutoff for grenade launching and the early […]

A Path Less Traveled: IM Metal’s Tavor-Based Prototype for the VHS-1

September 21, 2022 Ian McCollum 3

Today we are continuing to trace the development of the IM Metal / HS Produkt VHS rifles. During this period, Croatia briefly considered adopting the Israeli Tavor rifle. Part of the adoption would have included […]

Genesis of the VHS: IM Metal Gets a FAMAS

September 14, 2022 Ian McCollum 26

After their abortive effort at designing a bullpup AK conversion, IM Metal (later to become HS Produkt) decided to make another try at developing a rifle for the Croatian Army. This time, they decided to […]

CETME-L Handguards: The Poor Early Model and the Later Better One

September 13, 2022 Ian McCollum 1

The early production CETME-L (and CETME-LC) rifles used a thin, fragile, full-length handguard. It was redesigned fairly early in production with a much more durable version that provided better hand insulation. The Spanish Army updated […]

Croatia’s Prototype Bullpup AK Conversion

September 7, 2022 Ian McCollum 21

The HS Produkt company, best known for making the XD pistols sold in the US by Springfield, was originally called IM Metal, and was a general fabrication company in Croatia. When the Croatian Homeland War […]

Arex AKB-15: A Lost AK Modernization Project

August 31, 2022 Ian McCollum 27

The AKB-15 was a project developed by Arex Defense in Slovenia in 2015. The company received a request from a small country (they decline to reveal exactly who) to modernize a stock of AKM rifles […]

The Original Shorty Mosin: The Model 1907 Carbine

August 22, 2022 Ian McCollum 13

The creation of a short and handy Mosin Nagant carbine to complement the standard M891 was prompted by the Russo-Japanese War. Lots of Russian troops with roles other than infantry – machine gun and artillery […]

Scrome J8 Commercial Production Update (For the FR-F2)

August 21, 2022 Ian McCollum 4

Scrome, the original maker of the J8 scope used by the French Army on the FR-F2 sniper rifle, is making a commercial run of J8 scopes for collectors who have the recently-released surplus FR-F2 rifles. […]

Roller-Delay Showdown: Angstadt MDP-9 vs H&K SP-5

August 20, 2022 Ian McCollum 4

Today we are out at the range to compare the Angstadt Arms MDP-9 to the classic H&K SP-5. We will do a bunch of runs on a course of fire that incudes precision targets, spinners […]

Angstadt Arms MDP-9: MP5 Meets AR15

August 19, 2022 Ian McCollum 10

Angstadt Arms has recently released their MDP-9 carbine, an AR-type lower coupled with a roller-delayed blowback upper assembly. This is the same operating system as the much-lauded MP5, and Angstadt version of the design is […]